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British students may be excluded from Erasmus after Brexit

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Reply 80
Avatar for 97Y
97Y
11
Original post by oShahpo
Perhaps the people you knew were too dumb to learn from a foreign experience such as this?


I'm sorry, I agree with sir stating that it's a holiday - because it is. You can do the same thing, move in with a family and do it all for free instead of relying on the tax payer. No one pays the maths students to enjoy Harvard in the summer and claim that it's an 'enriching' experience
Original post by 97Y
I'm sorry, I agree with sir stating that it's a holiday - because it is. You can do the same thing, move in with a family and do it all for free instead of relying on the tax payer. No one pays the maths students to enjoy Harvard in the summer and claim that it's an 'enriching' experience


It's not being paid for by the people, it's mostly paid for the by the student.
Reply 82
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Original post by oShahpo
It's not being paid for by the people, it's mostly paid for the by the student.


How does the student pay? They get grants and reduced tuition fees..
Original post by 97Y
How does the student pay? They get grants and reduced tuition fees..


As far as I know the student still pays the 9k even though most European universities are free, and the maintenance loans paid to the student are also repaid as part of their university loan. I could be wrong, do correct me if I am.
Reply 84
Avatar for 97Y
97Y
11
Original post by oShahpo
As far as I know the student still pays the 9k even though most European universities are free, and the maintenance loans paid to the student are also repaid as part of their university loan. I could be wrong, do correct me if I am.


They get a reduced fee for the year £1500 or around and Erasmus sends them money every month
Original post by 97Y
They get a reduced fee for the year £1500 or around and Erasmus sends them money every month

Well, that's unreasonable then.
Original post by oShahpo
My standards? The sign of a true scholar, making judgements based on no evidence and failed assumptions based on feelings.


I'm not even getting involved in this debate, but literally a few comments ago you just said this...

"Perhaps the people you knew were too dumb to learn from a foreign experience such as this?"

Are you really going to make a quip like that after you just did exactly the same to a bunch of other people?
Original post by Boobarus
I'm not even getting involved in this debate, but literally a few comments ago you just said this...

"Perhaps the people you knew were too dumb to learn from a foreign experience such as this?"

Are you really going to make a quip like that after you just did exactly the same to a bunch of other people?


First of all, I said perhaps. Secondly, I am making this observation based on a premise, that is not invalid. If a person fails to learn anything at all from travelling and studying in another country, then perhaps they're too dumb to learn anything from such experience. There is a range of other things that could be the case, they could be lazy, uninterested or that their field has nothing to do with languages and cultures, but they could very well be too stupid to learn from such experience, hence my valid "perhaps" question.

The comment that person made is based on no premise at all beyond the fact that they went to Cambridge, as if that somehow makes this person more intelligent than anyone else on the forum, as they don't know me personally so can't make any valid judgements.
(edited 7 years ago)
So many replies to this thread are making me cringe, especially the absolute fu--tards who are under the illusion that the year abroad is just a holiday and that it offers no value (yeah being abroad in the country where your target language is spoken is completely useless DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH).

You're so deluded it's laughable.

I'd advise not commenting further due to complete ignorance on the matter.
Reply 89
Avatar for 97Y
97Y
11
Original post by oShahpo
Well, that's unreasonable then.


Precisely my point. It's somewhat a paid holiday.. €300 a month isn't a lot but you get your student loan on top of it too. Just less to pay the uni
Reply 90
Avatar for 97Y
97Y
11
Original post by Inexorably
So many replies to this thread are making me cringe, especially the absolute fu--tards who are under the illusion that the year abroad is just a holiday and that it offers no value (yeah being abroad in the country where your target language is spoken is completely useless DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH).

You're so deluded it's laughable.

I'd advise not commenting further due to complete ignorance on the matter.


We understand how it'll be useful but why should someone else pay for that? Many other students don't get free one year abroad with money from an organisation. And if the UK don't pay then they won't enjoy. Simple.
Original post by 97Y
Miss, I don't wish to be rude but being fluent in 3 languages is nothing to scream about. Better to have another degree and have the languages as a side thing. I never understood why people went to uni to study a language whilst they could just fly to the country and learn there from natives and not pay a penny.. For any language you study at uni there will be another fully bilingual chemistry graduate who can translate better than you, quicker and for less of a price.


Given that language courses have perfectly respectable employment rates, this is a pretty silly thing to say. Being fluent in three languages is very valuable and you're forgetting two important points: firstly, language degrees are not just about the language, they generally offer modules in a whole range of other aspects of the other country like history, economics, politics and culture. Secondly, since most professional jobs don't require specific degrees anyway, most language graduates (as with most graduates) will end up going into a career that isn't directly related to their undergraduate degree where the transferable skills rather than the actual subject content is most important. And language degrees are regarding as being challenging.
Original post by Plagioclase
Given that language courses have perfectly respectable employment rates, this is a pretty silly thing to say. Being fluent in three languages is very valuable and you're forgetting two important points: firstly, language degrees are not just about the language, they generally offer modules in a whole range of other aspects of the other country like history, economics, politics and culture. Secondly, since most professional jobs don't require specific degrees anyway, most language graduates (as with most graduates) will end up going into a career that isn't directly related to their undergraduate degree where the transferable skills rather than the actual subject content is most important. And language degrees are regarding as being challenging.


Doesn't that make the exchange year rather pointless then?
Original post by oShahpo
The comment that person made is based on no premise at all beyond the fact that they went to Cambridge, as if that somehow makes this person more intelligent than anyone else on the forum, as they don't know me personally so can't make any valid judgements.


I've just realised that if I gave an antagonistic response to this I'd be trading insults with an 18 year old on the internet. This isn't something I particularly want to do, so I'll restrict myself to suggesting that you might have misinterpreted my response to your comment about my peers if you think I was bragging about my intelligence, and that perhaps it would be better not to take up more space in the thread with this.
Original post by Ethereal
Doesn't that make the exchange year rather pointless then?


Why? It's part of the degree. You study a language degree because you're interested in the language and culture so the exchange is obviously a very important part of that, regardless if you go on to do something else after you graduate. Using that logic you can argue that the entire degree is pointless if you're not doing a languages-related job afterwards, which isn't true.
Original post by Plagioclase
Why? It's part of the degree. You study a language degree because you're interested in the language and culture so the exchange is obviously a very important part of that, regardless if you go on to do something else after you graduate. Using that logic you can argue that the entire degree is pointless if you're not doing a languages-related job afterwards, which isn't true.


Well no. You said the main benefit of degrees is transferable skills not the content, so I am simply applying your logic. How does a year abroad in another country enhance your transferable skills beyond what you can get simply by doing a degree?

The mere fact you want to spend a year abroad does not make it useful.
Original post by Ethereal
Doesn't that make the exchange year rather pointless then?


For work placements it doesn't. It allows you to get experience in a specific area that you'd like to work in after the degree is finished. So whether that's teaching through BC, translation work, journalism, media, politics, etc. It's all relevant experience and related to the degree, as it's done in the target language (with the exception of BC work, but even then you'd need to know your target language exceptionally well for the rest of the time you're in the school - and for any placement you'd need know your target language really well to live day to day life. There's the stressful task of setting up bank accounts and finding places to live and all the jazz too.

For exchanges between universities and studying it allows you to use the language 24/7. There's only so much learning you can do for any subject from the comfort of your own room, going out there and using what you've learnt helps you learn from your mistakes and allows you to get better. Admittedly I don't think studying abroad is as useful as working abroad, but it's still definitely important.

EDIT: I'm speaking strictly for language students here. For other courses AFAIK when you study abroad the teaching is done in English. I know that at least for my course it's done in the target language (much like some of the lectures in 1st/2nd/4th year at home) so I can't speak for everything. I can maybe see why for example a Psychics student taking a semester in Sweden probably doesn't seem that important.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Ethereal
Well no. You said the main benefit of degrees is transferable skills not the content, so I am simply applying your logic. How does a year abroad in another country enhance your transferable skills beyond what you can get simply by doing a degree?

The mere fact you want to spend a year abroad does not make it useful.


You're immersed in the language and culture which therefore accelerates your learning of those two things? I very much doubt that a year abroad would be compulsory for language courses if it added little value...
Original post by pizzanomics
For work placements it doesn't. It allows you to get experience in a specific area that you'd like to work in after the degree is finished. So whether that's teaching through BC, translation work, journalism, media, politics, etc. It's all relevant experience and related to the degree, as it's done in the target language (with the exception of BC work, but even then you'd need to know your target language exceptionally well for the rest of the time you're in the school - and for any placement you'd need know your target language really well to live day to day life. There's the stressful task of setting up bank accounts and finding places to live and all the jazz too.


It's entirely possible to obtain work experience without going abroad though, so it's still a pointless thing to do if the proposition that degrees are about transferable skills rather than content is maintained.

For exchanges between universities and studying it allows you to use the language 24/7. There's only so much learning you can do for any subject from the comfort of your own room, going out there and using what you've learnt helps you learn from your mistakes and allows you to get better. Admittedly I don't think studying abroad is as useful as working abroad, but it's still definitely important.


Same as above, if the argument is that content is less important for graduate jobs than the fact of the degree then the limited extra fluency this will get you makes no difference.
Reply 99
Avatar for 97Y
97Y
11
Original post by Plagioclase
You're immersed in the language and culture which therefore accelerates your learning of those two things? I very much doubt that a year abroad would be compulsory for language courses if it added little value...


Working in a fashion house in France would help design students too, however not all of us are afforded free work experience in regards to degrees. It is incredibly useful but why should the tax payer pay anymore for your degree than someone studying maths? If you want to spend a year living, breathing, working and partying abroad then who should bear the cost? You or the government?
It would be very useful for all chemistry students to spend 12 months in a BP oil station too, but it doesn't mean that it's given.

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